


Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Penny Polendina Lives, Reunions, Spoilers, Volume 7 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 19:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21286736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Ruby gets a moment to reflect on arriving in Mantle and everything that happened thereafter.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Comments: 9
Kudos: 131





	Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I may turn this into a Nuts and Dolts ficlet collection if I write more short scenes like this. Until that happens though, it'll just remain a short fluff piece (that was written bc episode 1 of vol. 7 made me emotional).

_She’s alive_.

The thought whirls around and around in Ruby’s mind.Everything else happens around her, but she can’t let go of it.Ruby tries not to focus too much on it while she, her team, and her friends are being processed by the Atlesian military.Their current situation is a much more pressing matter than the liveliness of a single friend, but still.

It’s the liveliness of a friend _once lost_.

A friend she watched _die_.A friend she _mourned_.A friend she missed every single day after the Fall of Beacon.A friend she knew she had _no hope of ever seeing again_.

Ruby can’t really explain the feeling that’s settled in her ever since she first laid eyes on Penny on that Mantle street.Not that anyone asks.Even though their weapons (and the relic) have been returned to them and they’ve been assigned a temporary (and guarded) hotel room to stay in, Ruby can see her friends are too lost in their own thoughts to wonder about hers.It’s relieving, in a way.Her feelings are confusing, indescribable.

Shock.Relief.Joy.Each has its own moment at the forefront of her mind.

Fear.Anxiety.Doubt.Ruby would be lying if she said she isn’t worried about what tomorrow, and their first official meeting with General Ironwood would bring.

She knows she should remain focused, clear minded.She’s not just the leader of a team at an academy anymore.Sure Uncle Qrow and Maria are adults and pretty much everyone but Oscar is older than her, but they all look to _her, _follow _her.She _is their leader.

Ruby can’t let her own thoughts and feelings get in the way of her responsibility to them.To keeping them all _safe._

The ghost of Penny’s joyous “SAL-LU-TATIONS!” shout, of feeling of her arms wrapping as tightly as they can around Ruby, of all their air in Ruby’s body leaving her returns to her when she settles on a window seat late into the night.Ruby looks up at the moon and allows herself to smile, and remember struggling to catch her breath so she can return Penny’s hug.

She longs to see Penny again.Ruby desperately wants the chance to just talk to her, bask in her presence, have a moment that’s simply _theirs_, but she knows such a thing is probably a long way off.Penny is the official ‘Protector of the City’ now, and she herself still needs to see that the Relic of Knowledge is locked safely away in the Vault of the Winter Maiden.

Just the thought of such a meeting being _possible _will have to be enough for now.

_Tap.Tap.Tap._

A finger lightly knocking against the window jolts Ruby out of her thoughts.She yelps, but manages _not_ to fall backward off her seat.

On the other side of the window, Penny laughs quietly.She breathes on the glass, fogging it over, and writes, _want to come flying with me_?, in the condensation.

Ruby grins.She rushes forward, fiddles with the clasp on the window until she gets it open.She shivers at the sudden gust of frigid air that blows it, and wraps her cloak tightly around herself.Then, she takes Penny’s outstretched hand.

Together, they disappear into the night.Not permanently.Just long enough to find a private roof where they can look up at the Aurora Borealis and talk about everything and nothing for a couple hours.


End file.
